Highest-Paying College Majors: PayScale

If you're one of the unlucky group of recent college graduates who've found themselves contending with the rotten job market, there's a possible consolation: some majors pay much better than others. PayScale recently released their rankings of the highest-paying college majors (Hat tip to Business Insider.)

As you'll see in the chart below, the best way to ensure a high starting salary is to major in some form of engineering. In fact, the only other majors in the top ten of PayScale's rankings are economics, physics and computer science. Topping the list was aerospace engineering, which had a median starting salary of $59,600.

Sadly, some of the lowest-paid college majors are in the business of helping others. Social work finished dead last with a median starting salary of $33,400. Elementary education and education also finished in the bottom ten.